Gesamtkunstwerk is a 19th-century term for a space in which architecture organically merges with other visual arts. The amphitheater in Ryn, re-arranged by the asman pieniężny architekci studio, seems to draw on the German concept of the synthesis of the arts. And what is the shape of the Nook of Reflection inspired by?
Ryn, a small town "squeezed" between a pair of Masurian lakes, has recently gained two new public spaces. Both encourage reflection - one on the landscape, the other on the history that shaped it. Both also grow out of the context of the place; the medieval history of the Teutonic city and the topography of the post-glacial bodies of water. What does a tin deer have to do with all this?
The Corner of Reflections in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
Zakątek Zadumy
The first of these was located near - nomen omen - Ryn's market square, at the intersection of Kopernika and Wallenroda streets. Zakątek Zadumy was created in place of an earlier small square with numerous trees and a round square with benches. The basic function of the new space remained unchanged - it is still a green enclave in the heart of the medieval town. However, its form has fundamentally changed.
Corner of Reflections in Ryn
photo: Piotr Krajewski
ZakątekZadumy has been inscribed into the existing tree stand, marking the main entrance square from the west. The Zakątek can also be accessed via a path from Wallenroda Street and two entrances from Kopernika Street. At the heart of the square was a square with a small fountain, and a short alley was planned at the back. The boundaries of all paved areas are marked by low concrete walls with meandering courses, which serve as seats.
Corner of Reflections in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
concrete meanders
The meandering "shapes" of the Corner of Reflections in Ryn, at first glance quite fanciful, are not the result of the architect's imagination, but a reference to the geographical conditions of the place where it was created.
The Corner of Reflections in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
In the case of the design of the Nook of Reflections in Ryn, its location is crucial. The square was created from the natural shapes of fragments of the shorelines of the numerous lakes surrounding the city. When they were combined, the form of the square was created, so in a sense the layout of the pedestrian paths in the square was shaped by nature, not by the designer's hand.
- write Asman Pieniężny Architects [translated by the author].
The Corner of Reflections in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
The architects "took on board" two lakes between which the small town is located - Lake Ryn and Lake Lead. Choosing appropriate fragments of the shorelines, they managed to compose a multifunctional space, accommodating both a small square with a fountain, several pedestrian routes, and an alley, at the end of which was an erratic boulder with a brass plaque explaining its ancient origin. Zakątek Zadumy also fulfills an educational mission - two boards informing about the characteristics and history of the Masurian lakes were erected in the square space.
Zakątek Zadumy in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
hero of the coat of arms on ryn square
Although greenery is the biggest ornament of the new square in Ryn, Asman Pieniężny Architects made sure that the Nook of Reflections presents itself with dignity in the surroundings of the historic buildings that form the scenery for it. The architects provided a decorative dimension to the vegetation, designing two fancifully composed flower beds in the square space, planted with perennials in red, purple and white.
Corner of Reflections in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
At the main entrance to the Zakątek, from Kopernika Street, stood a bas-relief depicting a lying deer, cut from a sheet of thick metal and painted a rusty color. The choice of the animal is not coincidental - it refers to the coat of arms of Ryn, the composition of which, in turn, was taken from the 15th-century seal of a Teutonic commandery.
Corner of Reflections in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
The most important thing for the achieved effect, however, seems to be the careful workmanship and the material used for it, which was architectural concrete cast at the construction site , colored in the mass in a warm ochre color. Both the water-permeable surfaces of the alleys, made of a special aggregate mixture, and the wooden finishes of the seats harmonize with it. The whole is emphasized by atmospheric lighting.
Amphitheater in Ryn
photo: Piotr Krajewski
Amphitheater on Lake Rynskie
The amphitheater at Lake Ryńskie was built before 2018. Previously, there was a natural, grass-covered waterfront on the western section of Szkolna Street. The local government decided to transform part of it, building a small amphitheater facing the surface of the lake. On the axis of the premise was a raised stage, to which two paved paths led, partially covered with pergolas.
Amphitheater in Ryn
photo: Piotr Krajewski
After several years, the space needed a refresh, which was carried out according to a design by Asman Pieniężny Architects. Wooden seats appeared on individual rows of the amphitheater, and a canopy in the form of a half-section of a cylinder appeared over the stage. The change is subtle, but qualitative - thanks to it, observers will spend their time at Rynski Lake more comfortably, and those performing on the small stage will be shielded from the sun or rain. In addition to quality, the metamorphosis also has an aesthetic dimension, as well as - and perhaps above all - a symbolic one.
The amphitheater in Ryn
photo: Piotr Krajewski
"When Graphics meets Architecture, romance is born".
The transformation of the Ryńskie Lake waterfront is as much a spatial activity as it is a sculptural and typographic one. The short name of the locality made it possible to transfer the word into the third dimension by shaping elements of small architecture in the likeness of letters:
Letters cease to be mere symbols and become space. Typography leaves the flat surface and transforms into a physical structure that shapes the architectural space. Abstraction and freedom seduce the place, while preserving the dancing composition of the modernized amphitheater. [...] The freestanding letters - r, y - are placed near the existing outdoor amphitheater, while the last letter - n - forms a canopy over the stage, simultaneously framing the landscape in the background and bringing it to the stage in the form of a living set.
- write Asman Pieniężny Architects [author's translation].
Amphitheater in Ryn
photo: Piotr Krajewski
architecture in Teutonic colors
The concrete used to cast the typographic sculptures and the canopy over the amphitheater was colored red in the mass for a reason - the historical origins of the city of Ryn are connected with the Teutonic State, its administration and, of course, its architecture. Already at the end of the 14th century the Teutonic castle, erected on a hill between two lakes surrounding Ryn, was the seat of the Order's commanders. In the following centuries - and especially in the nineteenth century - the town was filled with brick architecture, characteristic of the region and referring in its neo-Gothic forms to the Teutonic infrastructure.
Amphitheater in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
On Szkolna Street itself, where the refreshed amphitheater is located, there are, among others, a former mill, a post-German school and several red-brick houses. Looking from the beginning of the street toward the new amphitheater, out of the corner of your eye you will notice the brick silhouette of one of them.
Amphitheater in Ryn
Photo: Piotr Krajewski
